Improvement in petroleum-wells



2 Shee'ls--Sheet I. E. M06. STEVENSON.

Patented Seph'l 5, 1874.

PetroleumW-ells.

THE GRAPHIC C0. PHOTD-LlTH-39 In}! PARK PLACEJLY.

UNITED STATES QFFIGE Part ng TO JOHN IRWIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN PETROLEUM-WELLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,119, dated September 15,1874; application filed November 11, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELISHA Mo. STEVEN- soN, formerly a resident of New Bedford, in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, but now of Franklin, in Venango county, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Petroleum-Wells, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to a new and useful method or process of operating petroleumwells. The following statements I regard as necessary to a clear understanding of the same.

In the drawings herein referred to, It represents the rocks; WV, the bore of the well penetrating into the oil-rock; O, the casing. usually employed for shutting oif the fresh water at the point D E, the casing-head, through an opening in which, at G, the gas usually escapes at the top of the well; T, the pumpingtube; 13, the working-barrel; A, the pumpingrods, and H and V the valves employed in pumping.

The gas naturally existing in the oil tends to separate from it as both enter the well, and to rise and escape at the top of the well, as at G; or, if intercepted by a packer placed in the usual way, it accumulates in the space between the packer and the top of the oil in the well, and there remains until relieved by the oil being pumped out, or until the gas, by its retroactive force, if strong enough, pressing upon the top of the oil, drives it as a dead fluid up through the tube T to the top of the well.

Most wells as now operated are pumped from the beginning, and all are before they are exhausted.

By means of my invention or process wells may be made to flow which would not do so by methods heretofore in use, and wells improved which sometimes might fiow by other methods.

The following is a description of the same: I have discovered that the gas which naturally exists in petroleum while in the rock so thoroughly permeates and is so united with the oil, and exists also under such a degree of compression, that, if it is prevented by suitable means from separating from the oil, and both are kept together, substantially as they are in the oil-rock, by being confined in a space adapted to the amount of the oil and gas at the time in the rock or well, and extending to the top of the well, the expansive power of this gas thus constantly kept in the oil will continue to act upon the oil and bring it to the top of the Well.

I apply this discovery substantially as follows: I place a packer or other suitable appliance around the tube '1, as in Figs. 2 and 4, so arranged and fitted as to prevent the oil and gas from rising above it, and so locate the packer that when in position it will be as near as practicable to, but above, the place where the petroleum enters the well.

I am aware that placing a packer around a pipe, so that the packer will shut in the gas and be near the bottom of the well, is not new; but, using this or its equivalent, I add to this process as follows, namely: By making an opening in the tube T as near as practicable to, but above, the place where the petroleum enters the well, or (what is equivalent) have the tube terminate at that point, thus also bringing the opening in the tube or its lower end below, but as near as practicable to, the packer above referred to. This substantially prevents a space, into which the gas can rise or separate from the oil. I next take a flowingtube of the proper relative capacity to the gas and oil in the rock or well, substantially as hereinafter set forth, and screw or otherwise fasten it into a plate of iron or other suitable material, about an inch thick, perforated for the purpose, and of such diameter as to go inside the tube T. This flowing-tube I cause to terminate, when in position, just below the plate S, and as near as practicable to, but above, the place where the gas and oil enter the well. The flowing-tube and plate thus arranged I let down into the tube T until the plate rests upon a shoulder or seat at or near the lower end of the tube T, as'at N. The shoulder or seat made for the standing valve to rest upon may be used. This plate, by leather under it or other suitable means, is

made to fit closely upon the seat when in. position, so that neither gas nor oil can rise above it outside of the flowing-tube.

0 represents the flowing-tube; S, the plate, and N the shoulder or seat.

The fiowin g-tube is to be adapted to the oil and gas in the well or rock substantially as follows: In a well yielding up to about four barrels per day, from one-fourth to one-half inch tube, inside diameter; to about twenty barrels, from one-half to three-fourths inch tube; to about fifty barrels, three-fourths to one-anda-quarter inch tube; to about one hundred barrels, oneand-a-quarter to one-and-a-half inch tube; above about one hundred barrels, one-and-ahalf to two inch tube. The space through which the gas and oil are to come to the top of the well is thus readily adapted at any time to the gas and oil in the rock or Well by drawing out one flowingtube and putting in another larger or smaller, as occasion requires, substantially as herein set forth.

The result of my invention or process is that the gas and oil rise together up through the flowin g-tube, the gas being in a constantlyeXpanding condition, and bringing the oil with it to the top of the well. The action is similar to effervescence.

I do not, however, regard the use of the identical tube T, placed in the well for pumping, or the identical seat made for the standing valve, as essential to my process, as another suitable outer tube, or another seat or equivalent, may be used. These are employed as being the most convenient and economical for the ordinary application of the invention. Neither are two tubes essential to success, as one tube and packer may be used, provided the lower end of the tube, or an opening in it, is located at the place mentioned for the termination of the flowing-tube, and the continuous space to the top of the well is adapted to the gas and oil in the rock or well, substantially as herein mentioned; but to draw out a packer and tube, so as to change to another size of tube, involves the risk of injuring or destroying the well by its thus being left open to the falling in of fluids and solids which aocumulate above the packer, and also the injury of the well in various other ways.

I do not claim a process for causing a well to flow by extending a flowing-tube below, or

near to the bottom of, the oil in a well, and so.

placing a packer that the gas will escape from the oil into a space above it, and then, by its retroactive power and its pressure upon the top of the oil, drive the oil through the tube to the top of the well. Nor do I, in this application, claim, broadly, the idea, method, or process of causing oil-wells to flow by reducing the capacity of the discharging pipe or tube, nor of arranging the packer at or near the bottom of the discharging-tube, or at or near the upper line of the vein of oil-producing rock, as these features form the subjectmatter of a separate application filed by me; but

I do claim as my invention The combination of the flowing-tube O with the plate S, and the seat N, and the tube T, or equivalents, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

ELISHA MGGURDY STEVENSON.

Witnesses:

W. M. N. HAYS, LYMAN STEWART. 

